Recipe for a Perfect "Warm Breakfast"

Fall is upon us, the temperatures are dropping and you want something warm for a heart healthy breakfast...

Combine oatmeal, banana & bran to make a high potassium, low sodium, low fat and tasty warm breakfast entree.


The base recipe:

• 1 serving Quaker Instant Oatmeal: 105mg potassium, 75mg sodium, 2g fat.
• 1 banana (sliced into the oatmeal): 540mg potassium, 2mg sodium, 0.5g fat.
• 1/4 cup Kelloggs All Bran (mixed into the oatmeal): 175mg potassium, 40mg sodium, 0.5g fat.
• Total: 820mg potassium, 117mg sodium, 3g fat [a 7:1 healthy meal!]

If the base recipe is too bland for your tastebuds, then you can upgrade to one of Quaker's many flavors of instant oatmeal (e.g. apples & cinnamon, maple & brown sugar, etc). Unfortunately, flavored oatmeals have a 1:1.5 to 1:2 potassium:sodium ratio - changing the recipe's nutrition as follows:

• 1 serving Flavored Quaker Instant Oatmeal: 105mg potassium, 160-200mg sodium, 2g fat.
• 1 banana (sliced into the oatmeal): 540mg potassium, 2mg sodium, 0.5g fat.
• 1/4 cup Kelloggs All Bran (mixed into the oatmeal): 175mg potassium, 40mg sodium, 0.5g fat.
• Total: 820mg potassium, 202-242mg sodium, 3g fat [a 4:1 healthy meal]

A 4:1 potassium:sodium ratio is still incredible for your heart; but suppose you are in love with 7:1 nutrition profile of the base recipe yet want more of the flavor of the 4:1 recipe? The answer: use honey instead of flavored oatmeal:

• 1 serving Quaker Instant Oatmeal: 105mg potassium, 75mg sodium, 2g fat.
• 1 banana (sliced into the oatmeal): 540mg potassium, 2mg sodium, 0.5g fat.
• 1/4 cup Kelloggs All Bran (mixed into the oatmeal): 175mg potassium, 40mg sodium, 0.5g fat.
• 1 tablespoon honey (mixed into the oatmeal): 11mg potassium, 0mg sodium, 0g fat. 
• Total: 831mg potassium, 117mg sodium, 3g fat [a 7:1 healthy meal!]

7:1 to 4:1 - pick one of these 3 recipes that tastes best to you. In any choice, you have a high potassium, low sodium & low fat warm option for your heart healthy menu through the chilly fall & winter months.

Recipe for Heart Healthy Whole Wheat French Bread

Another easy to make, heart healthy to eat bread for your menu:

Whole Wheat French Bread

• Nutrition Facts (per slice): 104mg potassium, 2mg sodium, 1g fat (52:1 health ratio!)
• Effort: under 15 minutes my time (10 min ingredient prep, 2 min rise prep, 2 min bake attention), 2.5 hrs machine time.

3/4 t yeast
1 1/4 T honey
1 1/4 c water
2 c Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/2 c Bread Flour

Place ingredients in bread machine pan in order specified by the manufacturer. Process on dough cycle. Remove bread from machine. Shape into a tapered loaf. Place on greased baking sheet, cover with towel and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Cut diagonal slices about 1/4 inch across the top of the loaf with a sharp knife. Brush with cold water. Bake at 400 until done, about 15-20 minutes.

This recipe makes a pretty "hefty" bread. It is a great with soups or any dish with sauce for dipping a slice of bread. The recipe was adapted from the Low Sodium Cooking website - adapted to add additional flavor & reduce the density of the bread.

Recipe for Heart Healthy Garlic Herb Bread

Following from my recent bread analysis - I claimed it is possible to make heart healthy bread without being an expert chef tied to the kitchen. So, here you have one example:

Garlic Herb Bread 

• Nutrition Facts (per slice): 49mg potassium, 2mg sodium, 2g fat (25:1 health ratio!)
• Effort: under 15 minutes my time (10 min ingredient prep, 2 min rise prep, 2 min bake attention), 2.5 hrs machine time.

1 1/4 c Water
1 T Unsalted Butter
2-4 Cloves Garlic (finely chopped) [increase based on your garlic palate]
3 1/4 c Bread Flour
2 T Sugar
1/2 t Rosemary
1/2 t Oregano
1/4 t Thyme
1 1/4 t Yeast [increase to 1 1/2 for lower altitudes]

Place ingredients in bread machine in order recommended by manufacturer. Process on dough cycle. Remove and shape into two long loaves. Place on greased baking sheet, cover with towel and allow to rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Pretty simple: less than 15 minutes of my time as a chef, around 2.5 hours of letting the bread machine, nature & oven do all the work. This bread makes great sandwich bread - allowing you to bring sandwiches back into your heart healthy diet.


Note: this recipe was adapted from the Low Sodium Cooking website (modified for more garlic emphasis and high altitude cooking).

Need a great bread machine without breaking the bank? Try the Sunbeam 5891 Breadmaker. I use this for all my breads - the price is great, as is the machine itself.

The Truth About Bread

I'll make a bold statement and then back it up with facts: it is not possible to maintain a heart healthy diet if you frequently eat commercially prepared breads.

I will not make any friends in the commercial bread industry with that statement, but it is true. Proof by example: Wonder Breads has tried to fool the market by introducing a product called "smart white" which has focused on reducing sodium. What wonders have they created? Each slice of bread has 100mg of sodium. All the technologies and resources of a large commercial enterprise and 100mg of sodium per slice is the best they can come up with? So, a sandwich has at least 200mg of sodium from the bread alone! Two slices of toast has at least 200mg of sodium! etc. etc. etc.

Maybe I am just making fun of Wonder Breads, you think? Go to your pantry - read the labels on your bread. Go to the grocery store and read the labels on your bread. Use the internet and search for nutrition facts on various brands & types of bread. I guarantee you will conclude the following: 100mg of sodium per slice of bread is the best the industry has reached and you are typically at 200+ mg of sodium per slice from your average commercially prepared loaf!

• Do you need to remove commercially prepared breads from your heart healthy diet: YES
• Do you need to remove breads altogether from your heart healthy diet: NO
• Is it possible to have as little as 2mg of sodium per non-commercially prepared slice of bread: YES
• Do you need to be an expert chef slaving for hours in the kitchen to prepare heart healthy breads: NO!

With that cliffhanger, I will sign out and leave you curious. Heart healthy & easy to prepare bread recipes coming your way - stay tuned...

The Perfect (Heart Healthy) Baked Potato

Looking for a great recipe for your heart healthy diet? Bring baked potatoes into your menu.

The USDA nutrition facts on a (raw) baked potato: 610mg potassium, 8mg sodium, 0.16g fat - that's a whopping 76:1 potassium to sodium ratio with almost zero fat! Incredible!

Ok, I know, eating a raw baked potato is not that exciting. So, let's dress up a baked potato into a heart healthy (high potassium, low sodium, low fat) treat with some of the following additional ingredients:

• Add an 1/8 to 1/4 a cup of low fat (2%) mozzarella cheese.
• Add a tablespoon or so of a low sodium salsa of your choosing.
• Add a 1/2 to 1 cup of steamed broccoli.
• Add a 1/2 to 1 cup of potassium rich vegetable medley.

Note: DO NOT add butter to your baked potato - you may as well kiss your heart goodbye by destroying the potato in this way. Add the low fat mozzarella cheese directly to the potato (before the other ingredients) and it will serve the same purpose as butter (but taste better and feel better).

Topping your baked potato with a selection of these ingredients gives you a ton of flavor with a wonderful potassium:sodium gift to your heart:

Ingredients	P(otassium)/S(odium)/F(at) Counts
Baked Potato	610mg P, 8mg S, 0.16g F	610mg P, 8mg S, 0.16g F	610mg P, 8mg S, 0.16g F	610mg P, 8mg S, 0.16g F
1/4 cup Low Fat Mozzarella	40mg P, 180mg S, 5g F	40mg P, 180mg S, 5g F	40mg P, 180mg S, 5g F	40mg P, 180mg S, 5g F
1 TBSP Low Sodium Salsa	40mg P, 43mg S, 0g F	40mg P, 43mg S, 0g F	40mg P, 43mg S, 0g F	40mg P, 43mg S, 0g F
1/2 cup Steamed Broccoli	130mg P, 10mg S, 0.1g F
1 cup Steamed Broccoli		261mg P, 20mg S, 0.2g F
1/2 cup Vegetable Medley			424mg P, 6mg S, 0.6g F
1 cup Vegetable Medley				848mg P, 12mg S, 1.2g F
Nutrition Facts	820mg P, 241mg S, 5.26g F	951mg P, 251mg S, 5.36g F	1114mg P, 237mg S, 5.76g F	1538mg P, 243mg S, 6.35g F
Potassium:Sodium Ratio	3.4:1	3.8:1	4.7:1	6.3:1

Summary: dress up a baked potato with low fat mozzarella & salsa for flavor, veggies for flavor & potassium and wind up with a tasty 3:1 to 6:1 high potassium/low sodium/low fat treat for your heart healthy meal.

Consider this... If you use 1/8 a cup of mozzarella (instead of 1/4) and do not find this as a sacrifice to taste, then your baked potato treat is a whopping 5:1 to 10:1 treat!

Revised Nutrition with 1/8 cup of Mozzarella instead of 1/4
Nutrition Facts	800mg P, 151mg S, 2.75g F	931mg P, 161mg S, 2.86g F	1094mg P, 147mg S, 3.26g F	1518mg P, 153mg S, 3.85g F
Potassium:Sodium Ratio	5.3:1	5.8:1	7.4:1	9.9:1